JК
World Of Ptavvs :: Нивен Ларри
Страница: 71 из 127"Not with Belt relations the way they are now. They know what they'd do to us with an embargo on uranium, and we know what we'd do to them by holding off their vitamins, and both sides are just itching to see who'd collapse first. You think they'd believe a story like ours? All the proof we can offer is second hand, from their point of view. They'd think we were setting up our own mining operation, or trying to claim a moon. They'd think anything at all, because all they can tell for sure is that three ships from Earth are on their way to Neptune.
"Worse yet, they might just assume that this telepathy amplifier won't reach beyond Earth. In which case they could make a better deal with Greenberg, king of the world, than they can with us."
"I'll never buy that," Garner had answered. "But you're right, there's no point in crying for help. There may be a better answer."
And so they waited. If they were right, if the stolen ships were going to the eighth planet, they would be turning in six days. Luke and Anderson had nothing to do until the ET's gave them their orders.
Luke went to sleep, finally, smiling. He smiled because the gees were pulling on his cheeks. Anderson was sleeping too, letting the autopilot do the work.
At twenty-one hundred the next day the last pair of strap-ons burned out, and were dropped. Now six tumbling pairs of thick-walled metal cylinders followed the Heinlein in a line millions of miles long. In a century all would reach interstellar space. Some would eventually pass between the galaxies.
The ship went on at a comfortable one gee. Luke scowled ferociously to exercise his facial muscles, and Anderson stepped into the airlock to do isometric exercises.
The rocks of the Belt slipped by below, faster every second.
He was a clerkish-looking man with a droning voice, and he called himself Ceres Base. From his appearance he might never have had a name of his own. He wanted to know what an Earth Navy ship was doing in the Belt.
"We have passage," Anderson told him curtly.
Yes, said Ceres, but what is the Heinlein 's purpose?
Garner whispered, "Let me have the mike."
"Just talk. He can hear you."
"Ceres, this is Lucas Garner, Arm of the UN. Why the sudden shift?"
"Mr. Garner, your authority does not exist here in-"
"That's not what I asked."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You just now realized we're following the Golden Circle. Didn't you?"
"Are you really? To what purpose?"
"None of your business.
"Worse yet, they might just assume that this telepathy amplifier won't reach beyond Earth. In which case they could make a better deal with Greenberg, king of the world, than they can with us."
"I'll never buy that," Garner had answered. "But you're right, there's no point in crying for help. There may be a better answer."
And so they waited. If they were right, if the stolen ships were going to the eighth planet, they would be turning in six days. Luke and Anderson had nothing to do until the ET's gave them their orders.
Luke went to sleep, finally, smiling. He smiled because the gees were pulling on his cheeks. Anderson was sleeping too, letting the autopilot do the work.
At twenty-one hundred the next day the last pair of strap-ons burned out, and were dropped. Now six tumbling pairs of thick-walled metal cylinders followed the Heinlein in a line millions of miles long. In a century all would reach interstellar space. Some would eventually pass between the galaxies.
The ship went on at a comfortable one gee. Luke scowled ferociously to exercise his facial muscles, and Anderson stepped into the airlock to do isometric exercises.
The rocks of the Belt slipped by below, faster every second.
He was a clerkish-looking man with a droning voice, and he called himself Ceres Base. From his appearance he might never have had a name of his own. He wanted to know what an Earth Navy ship was doing in the Belt.
"We have passage," Anderson told him curtly.
Yes, said Ceres, but what is the Heinlein 's purpose?
Garner whispered, "Let me have the mike."
"Just talk. He can hear you."
"Ceres, this is Lucas Garner, Arm of the UN. Why the sudden shift?"
"Mr. Garner, your authority does not exist here in-"
"That's not what I asked."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You just now realized we're following the Golden Circle. Didn't you?"
"Are you really? To what purpose?"
"None of your business.